Tag Archives: Transit

The in basket: Jenni Booth has a question about Kitsap Transit
practices along Highway 305 on Bainbridge Island.

“I see paved bus stop pull-out areas consistently on the island
along the highway,” she said. “Unfortunately, I also rarely see
them being used. “Kitsap Transit buses routinely stop in the
traffic lane, impeding traffic and creating a hazard as traffic
often pulls into the oncoming lane to pass. Many mornings and
evenings the delay of cars grows and grows behind the buses as they
do this down Highway 305.

“If there are bus pull-outs, why are they not being used as a
means to help traffic flow? I’m sure it has something to do
with difficulty merging back into traffic, but this can’t be a
viable solution for that. Is it even legal for the bus to
impede traffic like this where there are clearly marked pull-outs
for the bus?” she asked.

The out basket: This evidently is a long-standing problem. as
suggested by a Feb.11, 2004 Road Warrior column addressing it. Otto
Spieth hypothesized then, as Jenni does now, that the drivers don’t
want to have to fight their way back into the heavy traffic. I said
then that it must be scary part of their job.

John Clauson, Kitsap Transit’s service development manager then,
said staying in the roadway has more to do with not sinking into a
soft shoulder or letting passengers out in an unsafe place.

John now is transit’s executive director and had this to say
about Jenni’s complaint.

“Buses, all commercial buses, are allowed to stop on state
highways at locations clearly posted as Bus Stop locations.
Stops without signs, commonly called ‘Flag Stops,’ are not allowed
on state highways.

” KT bus operators should be pulling off the roadway and into
the designated pullout, allowing traffic to safely pass the bus
while passengers are boarding or alighting. For safety
reasons, Kitsap Transit requires operators to pull completely off
the roadway with room required available for customers to board and
alight. Operators are not permitted to straddle the fog
line. They must be completely to the right of the fog line
(if it is safe) or remain completely in the roadway (to the left of
the fog line) with flashers activated.

“As recent as April 2, 2014, a memo was posted reminding
operators that they are required to pull buses completely off the
SR 305 roadway if it is safe to do so.

“Your observation (in your 2004 article) was absolutely
correct. Pulling back into traffic is, indeed, ‘a scary
adventure.’ Bus operators cannot just turn on the Yield
flasher and immediately pull into traffic. With the size and
bulk, it’s a slower process and most motorists are generally
unwilling to slow down and allow a lumbering bus to pull out in
front of them. Additionally, they do not want to follow a
slow-moving bus and are unaware of the law requiring them to yield
to transit buses (RCW 46.61.220).

“Our operations manager will repost the 2014 Memo reminding all
operators to use the pullouts on SR 305. Perhaps you can
remind your many readers of the law requiring motorists to yield to
buses merging back into traffic. In addition, if your readers
do continue to see problems, please have them call us directly to
allow us to more efficiently track and investigate the issue.”

The in basket: Brian Lozier read the recent Road Warrior column
about transit buses having the right to proceed straight in the
outside lane on Sixth Street at Park Avenue in Bremerton where
other traffic must turn right, and described a similar incident on
11th Street at Warren Avenue.

He’s seen transit buses go straight in the eastbound center lane
of 11th, he said, though there’s what he described as “a clear
left-only arrow” in that lane.

“Because the city of Bremerton, in its infinite wisdom,
chose to narrow 11th to one lane in each direction just after
that

intersection,”Brian said, “buses going straight through in the
center lane make it so traffic in the right lane can’t move
over and they all have to slam their brakes.

“Is this a legal move for buses or are these drivers
just ignoring the law?” he asked, adding “does the red light
camera there also catch illegal movement on greens?

“Further,” he wrote, “since I have seen this numerous times (and
not just with buses), it seems like this merge can be eliminated by
just making that lane on 11th a right-turn only up to Park. There
aren’t usually a lot of cars parked there, and that one block
stretch is adjacent to to a walled-off power substation.”

The out basket: There are no signs conferring anyone the right
to proceed straight in that lane, so if transit drivers are doing
it, they are committing an infraction.

Transit
Executive Director John Clauson says, “If the bus went
straight through the intersection without using the right lane, it
was improper. I have (included) our operations director on
this communication and I am confident she will take care of
this.

“If your reader sees additional
violations of this type, he/she should give us a call with the bus
number and the exact time of the incident. It will help
immensely to help us track the issue back to the operator and work
with the team to refresh operators on the rules of the road.”

The two red light cameras there monitor
only red light infractions and then only in the two directions of
travel alongside which they are deployed.

Gunnar Fridriksson, the city’s managing
street engineer, says they do plan to make the outside lane right
only at Park, at the same time they make some parking revisions on
11th and Sixth. As at Sixth and Park, buses will be permitted to
proceed straight in the outside lane even after the change.

Lastly, what’s permitted on eastbound
11th at Warren isn’t all that obvious. The two round ball signals
for the outside lane (a federally required redundancy) leave many
drivers wondering whether going straight in the center lane
is legal. But I wouldn’t expect transit drivers to be confused
about it.

The in basket: Eric Blair wrote July 25
to say, “I was traveling eastbound on Sixth Street in Bremerton
this past Wednesday at 1815, and was behind a Kitsap Transit small
bus. We were both in the right lane, stopped at the light at Park
Avenue. Imagine my surprise when the bus continued straight through
the intersection, from what is clearly marked a right turn only
lane.

“I didn’t see any ‘except transit’
language on the sign. Are transit buses exempt from the new right
turn only lanes in downtown Bremerton?”

The out basket: A sign is missing, as
transit buses need access to the curb lane to pick up and discharge
passengers and it is the city’s intent to allow them to proceed
straight in the outside lane there.

And there is an “except transit” sign,
just not right at the intersection. An earlier sign a half-block
back saying right turns only are allowed in the outside lane has an
“except transit” sign right below it. But I didn’t see it either
until Gunnar Fridriksson, senior Bremerton street engineer, told me
it was there and I went looking for it.

“The first sign which is about mid-block
between Warren and Park has ‘Except Transit’ so the buses can
legally continue through the intersection,” Gunnar said. “We
are updating the sign at the signal as well and I thought that had
been completed. Our sign shop is a bit busy these days, but I
will check in with them and give a little reminder we need to get
this done.”

The in basket: Michael Drouin writes,
“As we were sitting at the intersection of Sylvan and Wheaton Way,
watching the chaos emerging from the Kitsap Bank parking lot, we
couldn’t help but wonder whatever became of the grand plan to move
the Kitsap Transit transfer station to the defunct lumber yard at
Hollis and Wheaton Way.”

The out basket: John Clauson, executive
director of Kitsap Transit, says, “We still have the need to
develop a better transfer center, and the old Parker Lumber site is
more than likely the location.

“Having said that, we are exploring the
possibility of doing a joint development project that could include
more than just a transfer center. Once we have determined
these other potential uses, we will proceed with searching for
partners.”

Transit has acquired the old Parker
Lumber site, just north of the existing transfer station at Wheaton
Mall, he said. “We are not in a big hurry to move out of the
Wheaton Mall but our concern is that we could be asked to vacate
with little notice, like what happen to us at the Kitsap Mall, and
we would not have a place to move to.

“Although (the joint development
project) could include retail we are more thinking like some type
of living complex that would fit well with a transit center. It
could include a joint parking area that could support our Park
& Ride needs while responding to others’ parking needs.

“We are limited to just how far we could
move before we would need to make major adjustments to our
schedules for the east side service. Moving to the Parker Lumber
site would require us to make some changes to the service.”

The traffic signal at the Hollis Street
intersection would be upgraded from the existing three-way signal
to a full four-way signal to provide the buses a safe way in and
out of the Parker site if that is finally chosen, he said.

The in basket: J. B. Holcomb of Bainbridge Island e-mailed
to described an incident on Thursday as he was driving north on
Highway 305 just beyond the Agate Pass Bridge.

“I was driving at 45 mph and was two or three seconds away from
a transit bus stopped at a bus stop (ostensibly),” he said.

“That yo-yo driver immediately pulls out in front of me,” J.B.
said. “I had to dynamite my brakes and veer to the left to avoid
collision with his bus. I just, and I do mean just by
inches, avoided a head-on collision with an on-coming driver, who,
thankfully, took protection of his own in timely turning slightly
right.

“I noticed that the driver snapped on the yellow ‘yield’ sign on
the rear of the bus after I started braking. I immediately
laid on my horn while behind him for about two miles indicating my
displeasure and stopped beside him at the next stop with my window
rolled down for a few not-so-kind words. He paid no attention
to me.

“I thought about calling 911 to complain to the State Patrol
about his reckless driving, but I did not, because my
thought was that the ‘yield’ sign exempts that yo-yo from any such
claim.

“Should I have? Whatever the rule, he surely does not have
the right to place following drivers at risk of his or her life in
order to be able to pull out, even with a ‘yield’ sign on!!!”

The out basket: State law does require drivers to yield to a
transit bus reentering traffic, but the bus driver must do so
carefully. Transit executives also demand it as a matter of
policy.

We have only J.B.’s side of the incident, as State Trooper Russ
Winger noted when I asked him about the likely assignment of blame
had the bus and J.B.s car collided. It probably wouldn’t have done
much good to phone 911 about the close call.

But, Russ continued, “I can tell you this much. All vehicles,
including transit buses, even police vehicles, must ‘safely’ enter
the roadway from the shoulder, side streets etc. Signs and flashing
lights do not give immunity to the driver. All drivers have that
responsibility.

“If we were, in fact, investigating a collision, we would gather
as much information and evidence as possible, including witness
statements hopefully, to arrive at some sort of logical and factual
conclusion. If these factors led us to believe that the transit
vehicle did not give sufficient right of way to the other vehicle –
just pulled out – (he or she) could be found at fault. We would
definitely not just take one driver’s version of the event and make
a decision based on that.

“As for your reader’s actions about following the bus for two
miles, laying on the horn and even trying to confront the other
driver, well, I believe you already know the WSP’s feeling on that
type of behavior.”

If you don’t, they discourage it, and can ticket for unlawful
use of the vehicle’s horn, which state law says must be used only
to alert drivers of an imminent. danger, as was mentioned in a
January Road Warrior column.

Transit Executive Director John Clauson asked for B.J.’s contact
information so that he might inquire further into the incident.

The in basket: Brian Horch writes, “I was following a Kitsap
Transit bus and noticed when it stopped on the side

of the road that instead of yellow lights flashing it had red
lights flashing.

“If the rules are the same as for school buses this would mean I
cannot pass

the bus that is stopped to pick up passengers,” he said. “I
always thought you could

pass a transit bus when it pulled over for a stop. Could
it be the flashing lights should be yellow instead of red?”

The out basket: No, a motorist doesn’t have to stop for a
transit vehicle loading or unloading passengers, regardless of the
color of the lights that may be flashing on the bus.

Kitsap Transit’s Vehicle Maintenance Director Hayward Seymore
says their various routed, worker/driver and Access buses have
various combinations of lights. Access buses will have amber
flashers, usually found at the top of the back of the bus,
activated if the driver is operating the wheelchair lift. “If they
are merely pulled over,” he said. “they can just have the red
flashers on, all perfectly legal.”

He said they’d appreciate it if any driver passing a stopped
transit bus do so slowly with caution,

What a motorist IS required by law to do is yield to a transit
bus reentering traffic from a stop. There is a Yield sign on the
rear left of all the buses, and it’s lighted and blinks on the
newer ones.

Of course, red lights on a stopped school bus require
approaching traffic to stop, unless there is a lane between the
motorist’s lane and the one the school bus is in, and the motorist
isn’t following the bus. Two-way turn lanes meet that
exemption.

It’s an exemption that rarely can be used, as cautious motorists
unsure of the law usually stop and keep anyone behind them from
proceeding until the red flashers go off and the stop paddle on the
bus is retracted.

The in basket: Mention in the recent Road Warrior column about
Kitsap Transit policy that its drivers aren’t the use the Opticom
emitter system to change traffic signals to green as they approach
unless they are behind schedule brought two similar comments.

Jane Rebelowski said, “The buses use it when leaving the
transfer station off of Wheaton Way. How could they possibly be
late if I just saw them sitting in the parking lot for 10
minutes?”

And Colleen Smidt wrote, “There must be a heck of a lot of buses
behind schedule as they are entering and leaving the transfer
complex on Auto Center Way. It is easy to watch all of this play
out as I am sitting in the backup at the exit light at the end of
the southbound ramp trying to make a left onto Kitsap Way around
4:50 in the afternoon.

“Several times a month the backup from the lights being out of
rotation from the buses has traffic backed up onto the shoulder of
the highway, making for very unsafe traffic conditions.

I asked Transit management to explain.

The out basket: Transit Executive Director John Clauson replies,
“I do not have a reason why nor, until now, was I aware that this
was going on with the regularity your reader suggests. Have you
heard of this problem at this intersection, at this time of day
from many others?

“I know that when a person has to travel each day in what is
considered heavy traffic, any delay feels like hours and becomes a
major concern. I’m sure your reader wonders if it is really needed
or fair.

“I will have folks look into what is going on here and deal with
it as needed,” John said.

Those wanting to answer John’s question about others seeing
this, you can go online at kitsapsun.com and comment at the bottom
of this column on the Road Warrior blog.

The in basket: For a couple of decades, Kitsap Transit buses and
police and other emergency vehicles have had the capacity to change
red lights to green in Bremerton and around the county as they
approach.

But some private citizens have acquired equipment online or
otherwise that enables them to do the same thing, though they
aren’t supposed to and it’s probably illegal.

Tom Baker of the city of Bremerton electronics shop, told me,
“There are emitters available on eBay that will work with the
Opticom. I have seen signals pre-empted with no bus near by, so
there are non-authorized users out there.”

If you are one of them, you may find yourself frustrated in
Bremerton, where new digital controls have been substituted for the
old ones this year, intended to prevent unauthorized use of bootleg
emitters.

I learned this was afoot from Mike Singson of Advanced Traffic
Products, which sold the old Opticom equipment back when it was
first installed and was still around to help with the update. I
encountered him at a big electronics convention at Sea-Tac in
February.

The out basket: Wendy Clark-Getzin, Kitsap Transit’s capital
development director (for another week or so) says it kicked in
$31,000 to go with in-kind labor and services from the city to go
with federal money that added up to the $200,000 project cost. It
was finished April 30, she said.

In addition to ending unauthorized use of the signal changing
equipment, it will reduce maintenance costs and replace some aging
controller equipment,” she said.

She credited Jeff Collins of the city electronics shop with
making the money stretch as far as it went, and former city
engineer Mike Mecham for getting the money in the first place.

The work stops short of modernizing Opticom to the max, says
Mike Singson. It’s capable of using GPS to track the buses and keep
track of whether they are on time, taking changing of the lights
out of the hands of the bus drivers, he said. They’re not supposed
to use Opticom if they aren’t behind schedule.

Kitsap’s system won’t be using GPS any time soon and those
behind the wheel of the buses still will be able to change the
light to green.

You may wonder why Wendy will remain capital development
director for only a short time. She will leave to become general
manager of Clallam County Transit July 1, she tells me.

The in basket: I noticed many months ago that there are two
restrooms on the foot ferry Admiral Pete that runs between
Bremerton and Port Orchard, and both have signs saying they are for
crew members only. That struck me as odd, so I asked a crew member
why it was.

He told me neither restroom works, so the signs just prevent
their use.

I asked Transit officials if that is correct.

The out basket: Charlotte Sampson, executive assistant for
transit, replied and said, the Admiral Pete’s restrooms “are not
open to the public because it would require too much time, effort,
and funds to pump the system. Restrooms are available on both
sides of the water, and it’s only a seven-minute crossing.”

The in basket: As I noticed a flashing Yield sign on the back of
a Kitsap Transit bus, it occurred to me that the requirement that
drivers yield to buses pulling into traffic after discharging or
picking up passengers would probably come as a surprise to most
drivers.

The Yield signs on buses until now have not be lighted and most
still aren’t.

I asked State Trooper Russ Winger if a person could actually be
cited for failing to yield to a bus when no collision resulted from
the action.

The out basket: Yes, Russ replied, “as with any moving
infraction that can be issued for an actual collision, ‘almost’
causing a collision or causing another vehicle that has the right
of way to take evasive action to avoid that collision is grounds
for issuing a citation.”